6 best restaurants in Melbourne

An ensemble staff, from chef to barman to sommelier to kitchen boy, means this place is as much about the welcome as it is the food. On that subject, the menu knows no bounds. Try the meli melo, a dish of no fewer than 35 vegetables, with everything from pickled cucumber to bee pollen. And, of course, you can’t go wrong with their inventive 5-course degustation. This is food unlike any you’ve ever tasted.

115-117 Collins St   Tel: +61 (3) 9001 8755

No day-glo, no gimmicks, just timeless Victorian elegance and modern European cuisine. Epocha is your step into a glorious past without it feeling at all dated. Crystal decanters, etched silverware, polished service and, best of all, park-facing tables! Start with countless small plates to share: charcuterie, croquettes, venison carpaccio, asparagus crowned with a soft poached egg, that once ruptured, transforms into a sauce. That alone is worth a visit.

49 Rathdowne St, Carlton   Tel: +61 (3) 9036 4949

Cutler & Co. is an Aussie chef’s award-winning take on modern fine dining. You’ll dine on indigenous meat and seafood, from kangaroo to marron, a Western Australian freshwater crayfish. Everything is served in sophisticated, eight-course tasting menus. And you’re surrounded by stunning industrial chic interiors designed by the chef’s architect wife. No wonder it’s been called “a melding of the perfectionist and the personable.” We reckon both qualities are in both of them!

55–57 Gertrude St, Fitzroy   Tel: +61 (3) 9419 4888

Melbourne is a melting pot – and the beauty of that are restaurants like Uncle. Genuinely Vietnamese, but not fixatedly so, this welcoming, locally-run new Asian hot spot serves delicacies like pate with rice crackers and steak with chilli and coconut butter. They’re even having their own special beer brewed, so nobody ever goes thirsty. This is Australia, after all, even if every other restaurant is influenced by another culture!

188 Carlisle St, St Kilda   Tel: +61 (3) 9041 2668

Melbourne’s beach-side dining institution was once a bathing pavilion. True to that form, a trip to this restaurant is like a exquisite dip in the waters beyond. The menu features a delicious range of Mediterranean flavours from hoof-to-head eating to the house-speciality, ocean-fresh seafood. It’s redecorated several times a year, and the service matches the quality of the food, making this husband-and-wife-run gem our pick of the city.

40 Jacka Blvd, St Kilda   Tel: +61 3 9534 8221